Ravens Coach John Harbaugh Says Trainers, PR Dept. Responsible For Injury Report Snafu

This is a little weird. After a huge victory that at least temporarily saves the season, Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh explained an embarrassing injury report snafu involving starting quarterback Lamar Jackson by, well, pointing responsibility at his trainers and public relations department.

And Harbaugh absolved himself.

Harbaugh Points At Underlings

 “Yeah, that’s in the training room and the PR and the other side. It’s not in the football side,” Harbaugh said, pointing to trainers and the public relations department as the ones that determined and reported Jackson’s status on Friday.

This is not good. It’s clearly not a Harry Truman buck stops here moment. It’s Harbaugh, rightly or wrongly, putting the responsibility for a reporting mistake on others.

That report eventually caught the attention of the NFL, which launched an investigation of the matter because it seems, on its face, the Ravens misreported what actually happened in saying Jackson was a full practice participant on Friday when he actually only worked with the scout team.

NFL rules state, in effect, a starting quarterback not taking his full set of repetitions with the starting offense cannot be reported as a full practice participant. The club also listed Jackson as questionable and then on Saturday changed his status to out while also correcting the full practice designation from the day before.

Harbaugh Gives His Version

“Yeah, well, the status was pretty much the status all the way through,” Harbaugh explained. “We were hoping. We were hoping, and we weren’t going to rule him out before we had to, you know, and I think at the end of the day, just the conversations that were had, they just didn’t feel like two games in the five days would be the thing to do, you know?

“So then it comes back to us. And when you hear that as a coach, that’s what you do.”

“So with him not practicing, you know, with the first offense throughout the week, it’s just getting Tyler ready to go, and we’re going to go play football with Tyler. And if Lamar would have come back. I mean,, if it could have happened, as a coach, I’d put him in there … That’s the way it would have gone, but he didn’t get to the point where I think they felt comfortable with that part of it.”

So that’s Harbaugh’s version of events. But it doesn’t explain why the Ravens make something so important as setting the practice report to trainers and public relations when a mistake could adversely affect the entire organization. 

John Harbaugh wasn’t happy with how a question was asked at the Ravens’ first day of training camp on Wednesday. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

Harbaugh: I’m Not Involved

All Harbaugh could add was don’t look at him. 

“The other part of it, I’m not involved in those rules,” Harbaugh said. “I don’t know those particular rules, so that’s … that was probably, I think in their defense, you know, he practiced a full practice. I think they felt like because he did the same number of reps, it was a full practice. But when you dig in and you read the rule, at the end of the day, it wasn’t right, so that’s what it was. 

“That’s why as soon as we found out, we changed it.”

Raise your hand if you believe the NFL will simply shrug its collective shoulders and accept Harbaugh’s  explanation.

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – OCTOBER 26: Roquan Smith #0 of the Baltimore Ravens reacts as he leads a huddle prior to an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears at M&T Bank Stadium on October 26, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)

Harbaugh: No Harm, No Foul

First, the idea that the coach isn’t involved in deciding how players are listed is odd. And the idea the league willl let this pass as a minor misunderstanding on a week the FBI busted multiple NBA types on gambling allegations is not reality.

But Harbaugh insisted it was really no harm intended.

 “But it’s an honest mistake,” he said. “I mean, it really is an honest mistake. I can tell you this, nobody’s trying to hide anything. I mean, there’s no advantage. There’s no advantage to be gained, you know, with that. I

” mean, it was he practiced, his status was what it was, he was questionable. I do think if we’d have had the old status, maybe they would have said doubtful. Maybe. I don’t know, but questionable or out. And we weren’t gonna say out – until Saturday when that conversation was had on the medical side.”

Lamar Jackson Update

Jackson has missed three consecutive games. The Ravens finally won one of those and play on Thursday night against the Miami Dolphins. 

Harbaugh could not guarantee Jackson, nursing a hamstring injury, will be back for that one.

“I’m hopeful,” he said. “I’m just going to say that I’m hopeful. That’s just, as a coach, what you do is you ask, you might, you know, how’s he doing? That’s about as much as you do. How are we doing and what do you think? And then you get the guys ready that are going to play them when the guys come back to practice…That’s how it works on the coaching side.” 

That may be how it works on the Ravens. But that’s not how it works for many NFL teams. The head coach often knows what is about to be reported to the NFL. And on many teams, he’s the one with the final decision or the one signing off on the status.